9 LinkedIn posts gone wrong: lessons learned (& downloadable templates)

How to get more impressions on LinkedIn by writing better posts

I have used LinkedIn for more than 10 years.
And shared a lot of content. A lot.
It mostly consisted in the articles I was reading.
Which took me just a click to post on the platform.

Without noticing it, I have developed a decent following.
Which gave me considerable reach whenever new content was posted.

Until recently, I did not care much about it.
Since posting was just a by product of my reading activity.
With no intention to establish a reputation.

But this September things have changed.
After a 1.5 year break, I have came back to the platform.
And this time I had a purpose.
I wanted to promote my writings.
To see if I could expose more people to my weekly newsletter.

That’s when things began to go sideways.
After a few initial successes, my reach started to decrease.
Translating in less impressions, less likes, less subscribers.

What was going on?

I started to ask around.
But nothing could convince me.
I almost felt as if I had more expertise than my counterparts.
But, still, I was not achieving the desired results.

So I followed a fellow writer advice.
I put on my analytical hat. 🎓
And decided to look for my own conclusions.

I took a sample of 9 similar posts and compared them.

I have found out that the post structure matters.
Derived some actionable suggestions.
And created a few downloadable templates.

I am sharing with you my analysis.
In the hope it will help promoting your content.
And to get new knowledge in return.

The article is divided in the following sections:

1. The 9 Posts

2. The Comparison Table

3. The Findings

4. The Recommendations

5. The Post Writing Checklist

6. The Analysis Limitations

7. The Conclusions

Enjoy it!

---

1. The 9 Posts

I have selected 9 posts.
They all promote my writings.
They link to diverse articles.
And they differ in length, message and position of the link.

You can find a selection of the 9 post screenshots below, and click on the link to open them directly on LinkedIn.

“In doubt, just do” (link to post)

“In doubt, just do” (link to article)

People are rude, don’t take it personally (link to post)

People are rude, don’t take it personally (link to article)

Each small step is valuable (link to post)

Each small step is valuable (link to article)

Because of space limitations, some screenshots were excluded.
To see them all, you can access the full list below.
Or just move forward to the comparison table in the next section.

---

2. The Comparison Table

I have identified 12 variables to compare the post performance.
And reported the results in the table below.

Some variable refers to the way the post is written, some other to the way it is shared (they are explained in detail after the table).

The impressions are used as the main success criteria (KPI) to identify which posts have performed the best.

The variables used for the comparison are the following:

• Date: post date

• Impressions: how many people have seen the post

• Likes & comments: how many likes and comments were given

• Personal tone (yes/no): if the post explicitly talks about a personal story ("I did…" type of post)

• Short story (yes/no): if the post is kept short (below ∼12 lines), with good spacing between sentences

• Core lesson (yes/no): if the post contains one or more of the core lessons included in the article

• Click to know more (yes/no): if the reader is invited to click to get more information (hence, the post does not tell the full story)

• Article link (body/comment): if the article link is placed in the post body or in the comments

• Topic originality (high/low): if the topic feels original (assessment left to the author interpretation, in the light of the reader feedback)

---

3. The Findings

The main insights coming from the analysis are the following:

• The post composition matters: most posts above 1.5k impressions follow certain writing rules. They are personal, short, provide a core lesson and invite to click to know more (see the checklist in section 5)

• The article link position, whether in the body or in comments, does not make a significant difference. This might dissuade content creators from adding the article link in the comments

• There is a correlation between likes and impressions, so that more impressions translate into more interactions (view the complete workbook for the like count). In particular, the amount of likes received in the first minutes influences the number of users the article will be shown to¹

• The topic originality matters, which might affect the impressions through its impact on likes

• Frequent similar posts produce less impressions over time

• No clear conclusion can be drawn on comments

• No conclusions can be made on hashtags, which were included in all posts

• No conclusions can be made on tagging, which was present in one article only

---

4. The Recommendations (for future posts)

In the light of the insights above, the recommendations are the following:

• Given the relevance of the post structure, use the LinkdIn post writing checklist to make sure to include all the relevant elements (provided in section 5)

• Given the indifference of the link position, add the article link in the post body, so that the post preview can be shown to users, increasing the clickable space on the screen

• Given the relevance of likes to get impressions (and vice versa), consider to share the LinkedIn post link with close friends soon after posting it (via DMs, Slack, WhatsApp, etc), asking them to like it as soon as possible

• Given the impact of the interval between posts, diversify post types to have a multiple types of engagement with the audience and prevent boredom (= do not post your content only!)

• (bonus point) Tag friends that could find the content interesting, even better if they have many followers, and consider using hashtags (this is a best practice, not directly emerging from the analysis)

---

5. The Post Writing Checklist

The previous recommendations are summarised in the checklist below.
I am now using it every time I write a new post.
Download it, customise it, make it yours!

It will help you to write better performing posts.

---

6. The Analysis Limitations

This analysis of the 9 posts can clearly be improved.
Its core limitations, which I plan to overcome in the future, are the following:

• The impression count is the only KPIs used. Other metrics could be taken into account (likes, clicks through, subscribers)

• The time of the day and day of the week have not been considered

• The changes to the LinkedIn algorithm rules have not been accounted for, and might have impacted the post performance over time

• The post originality is a subjective variable. More objective measures could be used to capture the same effect

---

7. The Conclusions

In 10 years of LinkedIn use, I have observed many changes to the platform and its performance.
This is my first attempt to summarise what I’ve learned and make it accessible.
With the purpose to identify actionable recommendations and gather feedback.

My hope is that more people will build on the top of these findings, extending, confirming or disproving them.
So that we can put the right content in front of the right audience.
For the benefit of all, writers and readers.

So, what do you think of these findings?
Please, leave a comment below.
Tell me about your experience.
Or what I should integrate in the analysis.

I will continue to post new articles, on this publication and on LinkedIn.
And to share more analyses like this.
I addition to my usual writings on decision making in conditions of uncertainty.

Consider subscribing, to be updated with what’s new. And to join my journey.

Have a happy, informed journey,
— Livio

18/11/2022

1. The correlation between the amount of likes received in the first minutes and impressions is not immediately evident from the table, but comes from complementary observations of the post behaviour over time.